[96] "They are happy in having found, in your zeal for the dignity of this nation, the means of liquidating their claims, and of concluding with the court of France a convention for the final satisfaction of their demands; and have given us commission, in their names, and on their behalf, most earnestly to entreat your acceptance of their grateful acknowledgments. Whether they consider themselves as Britons, or as men more particularly profiting by your generous and spirited interposition, they see great reasons to be thankful, for having been supported by a minister, in whose public affections, in whose wisdom and activity, both the national honor, and the interests of individuals, have been at once so well supported and secured."--Thanks of the Canada merchants to General Conway, London, April 28, 1766. [97] See the Convention itself, printed by Owen and Harrison, Warwick-lane, 1766; particularly the articles two and thirteen. [98] Page 23. [99] Page 46. [100] Page 46. APPENDIX. So much misplaced industry has been used by the author of "The State of the Nation," as well as by other writers, to infuse discontent into the people, on account of the late war, and of the effects of our national debt; that nothing ought to be omitted which may tend to disabuse the public upon these subjects. When I had gone through the foregoing sheets, I recollected, that, in pages 58, 59, 60, I only gave the comparative states of the duties collected by the excise at large; together with the quantities of strong beer brewed in the two periods which are there compared. It might be still thought, that some other articles of popular consumption, of general convenience, and connected with our manufactures, might possibly have declined. I therefore now think it right to lay before the reader the state of the produce of three capital duties on such articles; duties which have frequently been made the subject of popular complaint. The duty on candles; that on soap, paper, &c.; and that on hides. Average of net produce of duty on soap, &c., for eight years ending 1767 L264,902 Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754 228,114 -------- Average increase L36,788 Average of net produce of duty on candles for eight years ending 1767 L155,789 Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754 136,716 -------- Average increase L19,073 Average net produce of duty on hides, eight years, ending 1767 L189,216 Ditto eight years, ending 1754 168,200 -------- Average increase L21,016